Friday, September 30, 2016

The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go
back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with
life.
-Thich Nhat Hanh

“We gauge the greatness of spiritual teachers by the depth, breadth,
and impact of their teachings, and by the example their lives set for
us. By all these measures, Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the leading
spiritual masters of our age,” writes Lion’s Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod in his introduction to The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh.
In his 89 years, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has made a
global impact as a teacher, author, activist, and the founder of the Engaged Buddhism
movement. His simple yet deeply profound teachings aim to lead
students towards a life of mindfulness, joy, and peace—a life that
benefits the planet, and all beings.

The Life of Thich Nhat Hanh

Early Life

Thich Nhat Hanh, (now affectionately referred to as “Thay” by his
students), was born Nguyen Xuan Bao in central Vietnam in October of
1926. Interested in Buddhism from an early age, he entered the monastery
at Tu Hieu Temple in Vietnam at sixteen and worked with his primary
teacher, Zen master Thanh Quy Chan That. In 1949, Nhat Hanh, then 23,
was ordained as a monk after receiving training in Vietnamese traditions
of Mahayana Buddhism and Vietnamese Thien Buddhism.

Nhat Hanh became editor-in-chief of the periodical created by the Unified Vietnam Buddhist Association, Vietnamese Buddhism.
He went on to begin his activist work, founding La Boi Press and the
Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon. Nhat Hanh also founded the
School of Youth for Social Service, a neutral corps of Buddhist
peaceworkers who established schools, built healthcare clinics, and
rebuilt villages in rural areas.

Dr. Martin Luther King and Thich Nhat Hanh. Image: public domain.

The Vietnam War and Engaged Buddhism

Nhat Hanh studied comparative religion at Princeton University in
1960 and was subsequently appointed a lecturer in Buddhism at Columbia
University. He had become fluent in English, Japanese, Chinese,
Sanskrit, Pali, and English. In 1963, he returned to Vietnam in 1963 to
continue initiating nonviolent peace efforts.

The founding of the Engaged Buddhism movement was his response to the
Vietnam War. Nhat Hanh’s mission was to engage with suffering caused by
war and injustice and to create a new strain of Buddhism that could
save his country. In the formative years of the Engaged Buddhism
movement, Nhat Hanh met Cao Ngoc Phuong, who would later become Sister Chang Kong.
She hoped to arise activism for the poor in the Buddhist community,
working closely with Nhat Hanh to do so. She remains his closest
disciple and collaborator to this day.

Three years later, Nhat Hanh returned to the U.S. to lead a symposium
at Cornell University on Vietnamese Buddhism. There, he met with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and requested that King denounce the Vietnam War publicly to his large
following. Dr. King granted the request in the following year with a
speech that questioned America’s involvement in the war. Soon after, he
nominated Nhat Hanh for a Nobel Peace Prize. “I do not personally know
of anyone more worthy of [the prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam.
His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism,
to world brotherhood, to humanity,” he wrote.

Nhat Hanh served as the delegate for the Buddhist Peace Delegation at
the Paris Peace talks in 1969, and the Paris Peace Accords were later
signed in 1973. Nhat Hanh was exiled from Vietnam after these events and
remained in France, a turn of events that deeply hurt the monk, and
would keep him from his birthplace for many years to come.

Establishing the Order of Interbeing

Today, Nhat Hanh heads the Order of Interbeing, a monastic and lay
group that he’d founded in 1966. In 1969, he founded the Unified
Buddhist Church, and later in 1975, formed the Sweet Potatoes Meditation
Center southeast of Paris, France. As the center grew in popularity,
Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong founded Plum Village, a vihara
(Buddhist monastery) and Zen center, in the South of France in 1982.
Both Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong reside at Plum Village today. The
center is open to the public for much of the year and houses retreats
that see people traveling from across the globe to attend. Additionally,
many dharma centers across the U.S. have been established as part the
Order of Interbeing.

Returning to Vietnam

After many negotiations, the Vietnamese government allowed Nhat Hanh
to return to Vietnam for a visit in 2005. He was able to teach, publish
four books in Vietnamese, travel the country, and return to his root
temple. Although his first trip home stirred controversy, Nhat Hanh was
allowed to return again in 2007 to support new monastics in his Order,
organize chanting ceremonies to help heal remaining wounds from the
Vietnam War, and to lead retreats in his birth country.

Photo by Velcrow Ripper.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s Health

Nhat Hanh suffered a brain hemorrhage
in November 2014. He was taken to a stroke rehabilitation clinic at
Bordeaux University Hospital, where he was able to recover enough to
enjoy sipping tea outdoors and listen to the sounds of the outside
world. As of June 2015,
Nhat Hanh continues to reside at Plum Village, where his health has
made remarkable process and he is able to enjoy being “out in nature,
enjoying the blossoms, listening to the birds and resting at the foot of
a tree.”

Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on meditation

The practice of mindful walking, says Thich Nhat Hanh, is a profound
and pleasurable way to deepen our connection with our body and the
earth. We breathe, take a mindful step, and come back to our true home.

Abhidharma, Buddhism’s map of the mind, is sometimes treated
as a topic of merely intellectual interest. In fact, says Thich Nhat
Hanh, identifying the different elements of consciousness, and
understanding how they interact, is essential to our practice of
meditation.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on saving the Earth

Only when we combine our concern for the planet with spiritual
practice will we have the tools to make the profound personal
transformations necessary to address the coming environmental crisis.
Thich Nhat Hanh offers us the guiding principles for a new
ecospirituality of mindful living.

Gathas help us to practice mindfulness in our daily lives
and to look deeply. Reciting these short verses will bring awareness,
peace, and joy to simple activities. Thich Nhat Hanh offers gathas for
recycling, touching the earth, and more.

Thich Nhat Hanh quotes

The ocean of suffering is immense, but if you turn around, you can see the land.

We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on
the Earth. Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which
the world earth revolves — slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the
future.

We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love
is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of
ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the
other person, we cannot love.

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful
path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a
flower blooms.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s calligraphy

Thich Nhat Hanh began creating calligraphy in 1994 and views his work
as a meditative practice. It is estimated that he has created around
10,000 works of calligraphy. Much of his mindful art has been sold to
raise funds for his many global humanitarian projects.In this video from Blue Cliff Monastery, Thich Nhat Hanh describes his “calligraphic meditation” process. Below, you’ll find some of his most loved calligraphies.

Prints of Thich Nhat Hanh’s calligraphy can be purchased in the Lion’s Roaronline store.

Books by Thich Nhat Hanh

Peace is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives

HarperOne“You have lots of work to do, and you like doing it,” says Thich Nhat Hanh at the beginning of Peace Is Every Breath.
“But working too much, taking care of so many things, tires you out.
You want to practice meditation, so you can be more relaxed and have
more peace, happiness, and joy in your life. But you don’t have time for
daily mediation practice.” If this describes your situation, Peace Is
Every Breath will be an excel- lent resource. It offers anecdotes,
meditations, and advice on connecting with your present experience
without putting your life on hold. Thich Nhat Hanh explains: “It isn’t
necessary to set aside a certain period exclusively for ‘Spiritual
Practice’ with a capital S and a capital P. Our spiritual practice can
be there at any moment, as we cultivate the energy of mindfulness and
concentration.”

FEAR: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm

HarperOneIn Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm,
Thich Nhat Hanh addresses the role mindfulness can play in letting go of
our fears. We are afraid of being powerless, he teaches. But if we live
in the present moment—if we have mindfulness—we will have the power to
look deeply at our fears and understand their source. At that point,
fear will no longer control us and we will touch the ultimate joy. We’ll
realize that right now we’re okay. Our eyes can see the beauty of the
sky and our ears can hear the voices of the people we love.

Making Space: Creating a Home Meditation Practice

Parallax PressPeaceful places create peace in our minds and bodies. “That is the
intention of sacred space,” it says in the introduction of this new
release. “But we don’t need to wait until we can find a church, temple,
mosque, synagogue, or other space designed for sacred contemplation… If
we make a space for contemplation and meditation right in our own homes,
then peace and joy are always available to us.” In Making Space,
Thich Nhat Hanh begins with the how-tos of stopping, breathing, and
sitting. Then he delves into the importance of creating a “breathing
room” or “breathing corner,” a calm place at home that you can go to
when you’re feeling uneasy, sad, or angry, and thereby come back to
yourself. Later chapters explore topics such as how to invite the bell,
how to make an altar, and how to make your bed a real place of rest and
relaxation.

Love Letter to the Earth

Parallax PressEnvironmental activists get a bad rap for being dour. Zen master
Thich Nhat Hanh, however, is anything but. Instead of finger-pointing
and calling for austerity, his solution to our environmental crisis is
mindfulness. Through mindfulness, he says, we realize that the Earth is
not simply the ground beneath our feet—we are the Earth. Every cell in
our body comes from the Earth and is part of it. “We are a living,
breathing manifestation of this beautiful and generous planet,” he says.
When we know this, we fall completely in love with the Earth, and as
with anything we love, we naturally do whatever we can to take care of
it. I particularly appreciate Thich Nhat Hanh’s heartfelt description of
seeing for the first time photos of the Earth taken from space. He saw a
glowing jewel and recognized the Earth’s fragility. “Dear Earth,” he
thought, “I didn’t know that you are so beautiful. I see you in me. I
see me myself in you.”

The Blooming of a Lotus

Beacon PressThich Nhat Hanh offers guided exercises to bring practitioners into
greater harmony with themselves and their world. The text includes music
to aid our memories in helping us learn simple principles. The many
meditations focus on guiding sentences that glide along with the
breath.This revised edition includes five new meditations: They show us
how mindful consumption and mindful actions can help prevent suffering
and water the seeds of compassion; how to be in touch with our Buddha
nature; and how to see our parents more deeply. These meditations will
deepen the practice of advanced practitioners, as well as start
beginners on the path.

How to Eat

Parallax Press
While some monastic communities de-emphasize food in favor of focusing
wholly on the spiritual, Thich Nhat Hanh’s community considers food
central to practice. “In the Catholic tradition, in the Eucharist,”
Thich Nhat Hanh says, “you see the piece of bread as the body of Jesus.
In the Buddhist tradition, we see the piece of bread as the body of the
cosmos.” When we mindfully savor each bite, we understand that in bread
there’s the sun and rain, the soil and compost, the farmer and baker,
because without any one of them there’d be no bread. So, when we eat
mindfully, we feel nourished by and connected to the universe. We also
become more aware of own bodies and emotions and, thus, naturally eat in
moderation, leading to better health. Moreover, mindful eating is a
powerful tool for social change. In deeply contemplating our food we
find ourselves inspired to advocate for best-farming practices and/or
take action on behalf of the world’s hungry. How to Eat is a concise and cheerful guide to mindful cooking, serving meals, eating, and washing the dishes.

A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles

Plum Blossom BooksFor many years, Thich Nhat Hanh has been teaching pebble practice to
give children and their families a tangible way to return to their
breath and connect with the world around them. A Handful of Quiet
is a lovingly illustrated book that brings this meditation to life. All
you’ll need to practice it is a quiet spot and four ordinary pebbles.
Each represents a different image embodying a particular quality. You
can certainly choose your own images and qualities, but in Nhat Hanh’s
classic version pebble one represents the freshness and beauty of a
flower, while pebble two represents the solidity of a mountain. Pebble
three represents the reflectivity of calm water and pebble four, the
freedom of space. Breathing in and out, you pick up each pebble in turn
and in your mind’s eye see yourself as the respective image. If you’re
holding the flower pebble, for instance, you see yourself as a flower in
the garden of humanity. Connecting with your inner flower, you know
that you are fresh, pleasant, and lovable.

Answers From the Heart

Parallax PressThich Nhat Hanh gives simple Buddhist advice in response to some
everyday questions. The slim volume is divided into seven chapters on
topics such as family and relationships, religious practice, engaged
Buddhism, and illness and death. It also includes a section on
children’s questions about Buddhism. The book’s questions, for the most
part, are broadly posed, and the answers tend toward general
affirmations of the value of compassionate listening and respect. Yet
Thich Nhat Hanh does not neglect issues that often challenge other
teachers, such as abortion and homosexuality (“If you are a lesbian, be a
lesbian”), and his steadfast insistence that peace and mindfulness are a
practical part of the response to any situation is both reassuring and
convincing.

“Often, the first glimpse of God is a great
darkness. Because when we knock on the door of truth, the masks begin to
fall, and we inevitably need to come into contact with denied feelings
that until now were hidden behind them. It is a difficult journey, but
an extremely necessary one. Some spiritual schools treat these feelings
as an illusion, which maybe they are, but in order to understand and
become free of them, we must first treat them as though they were
concrete and real.”

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Here’s what you need to know.

Hillary is right: “Gay rights are human rights.” Period.

While Republicans are attempting to roll back LGBT rights, Hillary’s
moving forward—because even though marriage equality is now the law of
the land, we still have a lot of work to do to ensure that all LGBT
Americans are treated equally under the law.Hillary has a plan to strengthen LGBT rights as president. Here’s what she’ll do, and why it matters.In 31 states, people can get married on a Sunday—and then are at
risk of being fired because of their sexual orientation on Monday. We
cannot allow discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people to go unchecked in this country. Hillary has called on Congress to pass the Equality Act, and also
supports efforts underway in the courts and in the federal government to
clarify that discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual
orientation is a form of illegal sex discrimination. She will not stop
fighting until we secure full equality for LGBT Americans.Conversion therapy is the harmful practice of trying to “cure”
LGBT and gender-questioning young people. We should be providing LGBT
kids with love, support, and compassion—not trying to change their identities. Hillary will support efforts in Congress and the states to end conversion therapy for minors.We have to address the growing crisis of violence against transgender Americans. This year, at least 22 transgender women—primarily, women of
color—have been murdered. And that doesn’t take into account the
violence that goes unreported or ignored. People should not have to live
in fear because of who they are. Hillary will work with the Department
of Justice and the FBI to gather better data on these hate crimes, so
that we have more information about this violence—and can put a stop to
it.Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation or
gender identity. Yet adoption by same-sex couples remains illegal in
Mississippi, and even in states where adoption is technically legal,
LGBT individuals still face discrimination.This is not only unfair to would-be parents, but also hurts the
hundreds of thousands of children in foster care, who are ready to
become part of loving families. Hillary will urge Congress to pass the
Every Child Deserves a Family Act, a law that would prohibit federally
funded child welfare agencies from discriminating against potential
foster or adoptive families because of sexual orientation, gender
identity, or marital status.Studies have shown that pre-exposure prophylaxis (also know as
PrEP) is incredibly effective at preventing HIV infection when used as
directed.Hillary will make sure that at-risk communities—including transgender
individuals and black men who have sex with men (MSM)—have access to
PrEP, by increasing the government’s investment in building awareness of
and access to the drug.Earlier this year, Republicans in Congress failed to renew the
Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act, which
provided federal funding for homeless prevention resources, emergency
shelters, street outreach, transitional living, and rural assistance. A disproportionate number of homeless youth are LGBT, and many of
them feel like they don’t have anywhere to turn. Hillary will work with
Congress to to ensure adequate funding—and safe, welcoming shelter—for
homeless youth.

The stakes for LGBT rights are high in this election.

Republican presidential candidates seem determined to undo the
progress our nation has made. Every top-tier Republican presidential
candidate opposes marriage equality—and Marco Rubio has even suggested
he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn it. They’ve
gone on the record against anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT
community, and some even oppose LGBT couples adopting.

We’ve celebrated huge gains for the LGBT community in recent years.
Now we must work together to protect our progress and make sure we have
more to celebrate in the years to come—not hand over the Oval Office to
someone who will turn back the clock on LGBT equality.

“Self-realization or spiritual enlightenment is a process of integrating
and harmonizing with all parts, both within and outside of us. It is a
dismantling of the walls that create separation. A pure heart has no
barriers. To purify the heart means to tear down the barriers and the
walls that we create in order to protect ourselves, which are the walls
that imprison us, as well.”

The
defining teaching of the Buddhist tradition, that of non-self, is
merely pointing out the limitations of this reflexive view we hold of
ourselves. It’s not that the self does not exist, but that it is as
cobbled-together and transient as everything else.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

When you can learn to accept love, you can give love. You can give love
to all you perceive, all the time. I am loving awareness. You can be
aware of your eyes seeing, your ears hearing, your skin feeling, and
your mind producing thoughts, thought after thought after thought.
Thoughts are seductive, but you don’t have to identify with them. You
identify not with the thoughts, but with the awareness of the thoughts.
To bring loving awareness to everything you turn your awareness to is to
be love. This moment is love.

“The evolution of consciousness is only possible when we heal the
emotional wounds of the past that prevent us from manifesting our true
identity in the present moment. In the psycho-spiritual sphere, to heal
means to close the wounds that we still find open in the emotional body,
freeing denied feelings and dissolving frozen images in the mental
body. These images are translated into rigidity of thought and
conditionings that limit our capacity to see. However, in order to heal,
we need to descend into the dungeons of the unconscious. We need to
have the courage to face our sadness and the feelings of humiliation we
have fled from our entire lives.”

Any
intentional, emotional, or cognitive impulse in us plants a seed in the
storehouse that will cause a similar intention, emotion, or thought to
arise in the future in the form of fruit. In each moment our experience
is determined to a great extent by seeds from the past that are bearing
fruit right now.

“We work to free ourselves from the past so that we
can live in the present moment. However, we can only become free from
the past by facing it, not by trying to pretend it doesn’t exist. We
become free through comprehension. For this, I suggest you go after the
unconscious voices of the past that still insist to say, ‘I won’t
forgive’, ‘I want to remain isolated’, ‘I want to fail’, ‘I want
revenge’. When we look atour past with honesty, inevitably we arrive at
self-responsibility, which is when we understand that we are exactly
where we place ourselves.”

All
happiness comes from altruism and all suffering from selfishness.
Altruistic attitudes and bodhicitta, their greatest expression, bring
such benefits because they are related to the true nature of the mind,
whereas selfishness does not because it is the expression of an
illusion.

“The most urgently needed value for the
development of human consciousness is honesty; primarily, honesty with
ourselves, with our deepest feelings within our hearts. For this, I
would like to suggest an exercise; identify your dissatisfactions. Ask
yourself, ‘Are you where you would like to be? Are you working in the
area of work you would like? Are you in a relationship with whom you
want to be with? What do you wish was different in your life? Our
dissatisfactions are expressions of self-hatred. And to the extent that
we dive into our own self-awareness, we discover why this hatred turned
against ourselves. But in order for this to happen, we have to have the
courage to face our past and make the necessary cause and effect
relationships.”

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Maharajji said to me, “Ram Dass, love everybody.” And I said, “ I can’t
do it.” And then he said again, love everybody, but then I realized it
had to do with the soul, and not the ego, because the ego judges, but
the soul love everybody, because everybody is a soul and a soul loves
another soul. Its not that the small, limited, ego “I” loves you, but
it’s unconditional love, it comes from the ocean of infinite love.

“True love is a phenomenon, a power that the mind
can not comprehend. It is a mystery to be unveiled by the heart. Love
manifests itself in different dimensions as empathy, forgiveness,
compassion and gratitude. But in all of its manifestations, true love or
mature love, is the scent of communion with the being. This love is
selfless. It is a love that wants to see the other happy; wants to see
the other shine, without even wanting a glance in return. It is the
capacity of true and selfless giving which is, without doubt, synonymous
with spiritual illumination.”

Our
minds are potentially fully fluid, but we often think of them as not
fluid because our bodies are not. What one would hope is that realizing
how truly fluid everyone is would make it a little harder to have firm
ideas about one’s enemies.

In one fell swoop, Donald Trump has fortified the
anti-LGBT positions he expressed over his campaign and tapped as an
adviser former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a two-time presidential
candidate with a notoriously anti-LGBT history.

The actions are the result of Trump’s creation of a 35-member
Catholic Advisory Council, which includes, in addition to Santorum,
other individuals with anti-LGBT histories.

Accompanying the creation of the council is a new statement
from Trump outlining “Issues of Importance to Catholics” and
reiterating his support for the First Amendment Defense Act, a federal
“religious freedom” bill seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination.

Emphasizing his commitment to “religious liberty,” Trump hints at
opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex
marriage and President Obama’s executive order barring anti-LGBT
discrimination among federal contractors.

“Religious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment to the
Constitution,” Trump said. “It is our first liberty and provides the
most important protection in that it protects our right of conscience.
Activist judges and executive orders issued by presidents who have no
regard for the Constitution have put these protections in jeopardy. If I
am elected president and Congress passes the First Amendment Defense
Act, I will sign it to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of
Catholics and the beliefs of Americans of all faiths.”

The First Amendment Defense Act (FADA)
would legalize business discrimination against married gay couples on
the basis of “deeply-held religious belief or moral conviction.” The
American Family Association, the Liberty Counsel, and the Family
Research Council have all withdrawn their support for FADA because
recently added language also permits businesses to discriminate against
straight married couples on the same grounds.